ing the wood so that the pieces overlap, where they can be
joined together. Additionally, the keels were grooved to ac-
cept vertical planks, and crossbeams were used to strengthen
the boat’s bottom. Th e result was a broad, fl at-bottomed boat,
the largest of which is 5.33 feet wide and 43.5 feet long. Th is
boat illustrates the convergence of two European shipbuild-
ing traditions: One was the “skeleton” structure of hide-cov-
ered boats; the other was a tradition of heavy timbered boats.
Similar to the Ferriby boats is the boat found at Dover in 1992,
a large craft that is estimated to have been rowed by as many
as 18 oarsmen during its crossings of the English Channel.
Archaeologists have discovered other wooden boats that
date from the second and fi rst millennia b.c.e. Many of these
were constructed from a single tree trunk, in eff ect making
them dugout canoes, though they also included transoms
(cross pieces, or beams), decks, joinery, and fastenings made
with iron and, in some cases, wooden dowels. One of these,
called the Brigg raft , was found in Brigg, Lincolnshire, Eng-
land, and dates to about 600 b.c.e. It is called a raft because
only the fl at bottom survives. Another, called the Hasholme
boat, was discovered in Yorkshire, England, and dates to
about 300 b.c.e. Th is boat and others like it show that their
builders lived in a wood-rich environment where trees were
cut down to build boats and a good deal of the wood was
likely wasted.
Th e importance of boats in Scandinavia is refl ected by
their frequent appearance in the rock carvings that cover ex-
posed outcrops in many parts of Sweden and Norway. Long
boats constructed by planks carried goods and people across
the Baltic Sea and North Sea and among the numerous small
islands that line their coasts. Th e Hjortspring boat, built
around 350 b.c.e., was found in a bog in Denmark in 1921. It
had probably been used to carry a raiding party, which was
then defeated. Th e victors then dragged the boat to the bog
and sank it there as a war sacrifi ce, along with the weapons and
shields of the raiding party. Like the Ferriby and Dover boats
from the previous millennium, the Hjortspring boat was built
from planks, but its framing system is very sophisticated.
Th e ancient Celts exhibited relatively advanced shipbuild-
ing capabilities by the fi rst century b.c.e. While the Celts were
spread out over large regions of Europe, many groups lived in
marine environments, particularly along the Atlantic coast.
Th ese ancient mariners faced problems that were much diff er-
ent from those faced by the Romans. While the Romans navi-
gated primarily in the Mediterranean Sea, the northwestern
Celts navigated in the more open waters of the eastern Atlan-
tic and Baltic seas. Heavy swells and rocky coastlines required
the development of heavy, stable craft that could survive this
environment. And unlike the ships of the Romans, these ships
could not be powered usefully by rowers.
One group that met the challenges was the Veneti, who
lived in Brittany, a peninsula that juts westward into the At-
lantic. Th e Veneti built a large fl eet of massive, heavy-bot-
tomed ships with tall masts, sails made of animal hides, and
heavy metal cleats to hold the ships together. Th ese ships werehighly maneuverable in the ocean. While broad and fl at-bot-
tomed, refl ecting the tradition of log shipbuilding that was
more than 1,000 years old in northwestern Europe, they were
also tall and graceful, with high sides that enabled sailors to
keep their feet relatively dry. Th ese ships were far more ad-
vanced than anything the Romans could throw against them.
When the Veneti refused to submit to Roman authority, Ju-
lius Caesar (r. 49–44 b.c.e.), before he became the Roman
emperor, led a fl eet of Roman ships against the Veneti, whose
ships he referred to as “swan ships.” Caesar initially met with
frustration, for his ships were powered by rowers and could
not match the nimbler Veneti ships or navigate in the rough
waters of the Atlantic. He fi nally defeated the Veneti in 55
b.c.e. by outfi tting his soldiers with long, sharpened grap-
pling hooks, which they used to shred the masts on the Veneti
ships. Once the ships were still in the water, Roman soldiers
could board them and fi ght.
In the centuries following Rome’s conquest of Europe,
Celtic shipbuilding began to show evidence of Roman design.
Th e New Guy’s Hospital ship, dating from about the second
century c.e., was built with a keel that was similar to Roman
keels. Th e County Hall ship, dating to about the third century
c.e., used the mortise-and-tenon joinery common on Roman
ships. It had to have been built in the north, though, because
it was made of northern oak. Th e Blackfriars ship, also from
the second century, continued the tradition of Celtic ship-
building but used Roman wood-joinery techniques.
Shipbuilding was not restricted to the seas. River and
inland lake societies also built and used ships. Small ships
have been discovered in Swiss lakes, and barges were built for
transport on the Rhine River. Th e Romans actually copied
certain Celtic shipbuilding methods to design ships with shal-
low draft s that could navigate the Rhine and other rivers.GREECE
BY DEBORAH N. CARLSON
Th e evidence for early seafaring in Greece is indirect and
consists of tools of obsidian (a black volcanic glass) and large
fi sh bones excavated in the Franchthi Cave on the Greek
mainland and dated to about 9000 b.c.e. Chemical analysis
of the obsidian indicates that it can have come only from the
Cycladic island of Melos, meaning that it had to have trav-
eled by boat with the earliest seafarers, who were apparently
also skilled fi shermen, t hough we have no idea what t heir ves-
sels looked like. Farther east on the island of Cyprus, stone
tools appear suddenly about 8000 b.c.e. in association with
the bones of pygmy hippos, pointing again to the presence of
ancient mariners.
Travel by sea was a logical development of prehistoric
life in the Aegean, which has at its heart a network of small
islands known as the Cyclades. In the Early Bronze Age
(3000–2000 b.c.e.), a dynamic and artistic culture of stone
carvers inhabited several Cycladic islands, including Melos
and Syros. Th e importance of seafaring to the Cycladic way980 ships and shipbuilding: Greece0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i980 980 10/10/07 2:30:39 PM